Loading apparatus of heavy guns.



A. T. DAWSON & J. HORNE. LQADING APPARATUS or HEAVY GUNS. APPLIOATIONFILED 0014I 1911.

Patented Apr. 21,

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UNITED sra'rn s' PA-T1 r ion.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, or WESTMINSTER, Lennon, AND JAMES norms, or

BARROW-IN-FURNESS, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS ro VICKERS LIMITED, or wns'rhIVEINSTER,ENGLAND.

I LOADING ArrAnArus OF HEAVY GUNS.

To all whom it may concern:

Broadway, l/Vestminster, in the county of London, England, and Naval,Constructio'n Works, Barrowdn-Furnesain the county of Lancaster,England, have invented certain; new and useful Improvements in or-Relatlng 1 to the Loading'Apparatus of Heavy' Guns,1

of which the following isa specification;

This inventionrelates tothe loading apparatus of heavy guns, and hasparticular reference to the means controlling the move-1' ments of therammer. I

According to ourinvention we provide means whereby the loading cage iscapable of causing the rammer motor to automati-i cally effect theramming ofthe projectile into the gun, a'sthesaidcage reaches the l Therammer .motor} may be controlled by a device which is under gun loadingposition;

the influence ofthe gunloading cage so that as the cage completes itsascent the said de-i vice is automatically fmoved into a position; tocause the motor to effect the outward or ramming stroke of therammer.

In order that the sa1d nvent1on maybe clearly understood and readilycarried into effect we will describe the samemore fully with referenceto the accompanyingdraw-I ings, in which Flgure 1 1s a ofa gun providedwlth our improvements,

and Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the mariner controlling devlc-e whlch1s under the 1n fiuence of the loading cage.

A is the gun, B the slide frame, B the loading arm, C the loading cage,D the rammer, D the rammer control hand lever and D the hand controlvalve connected to the said lever. i

The device for controlling the rammer motor comprises in the exampleshown a valve D carried by the loading arm B, The said valveis in theform of a differential hydraulic ram having a piston 4 formed thereonworking in a cylinder which is connected by meansof a pipe cl with thehand control valve D mounted on the gun platform. The stem cl of thevalve D projects beyond the valve casing D and is normally Specificationof Letters Patent.

diagrammatic side elevation Patented Apr. 21, 191 1.

Application filed October 4, 1911. Serial No. 652,689.

g V engaged bya spring controlled bolt D to Be it known that we, 'ARTHUTREVOB DAWSON, knight, and JAMEs HORNE, both subjects of the King of.Great Britain, residing, respectively, at Vickers House,

lock thejsaid valve in the position shown in Fig. 2." By this means therammer (which is shown by way of example as of the flexible chain type)is retained in the withdrawn position by the valve D" admitting pressurefluid from the pipe cl through the pipe ri to the motor F of the rammer,the said 'motortherebycontinually exerting power on the raminer toretain the head thereof aga-inst'the frame or structure by' which it issupported. 'The' said spring controlled bolt .D? is connected to apivoted lever (Z the end Z of which lies in the path of a projection .Aon the gunloading cage C, so that when the said cage reaches its loadingposition the said lever (Z is displaced to withdraw the springcontrolled bolt D from engagement with the valve stem 65. The hand leverD having been placed to the ram position prior to {the ascent of the gunloading cage the hand control valve D is in a position to place the pipeclto exhaust, and the preponderating pressure on the end of the piston(Z of the valve D is therefore removed, and the said valve, under theinfluence of the pressure fluid supplied by the pipe cZ then moves tothe right (when the bolt D is withdrawn) and admits pressure fluidthrough the pipe cZ to the motor to cause the rammer to ramthe'projectile into the gun. After the projectile has been rammed thehand lever D is moved to a position to cause the rammer to perform itswithdrawing stroke, and by subsequently operating thesaid hand lever Dthe ramming of the powder charges can be effected, this ramming strokebeing automatically reversed through mechanism comprislng a locking boltD a reversing cylinder E and a cutoff valve D operated by the rammer;this arrangement is fully set forth in the specification of our BritishPatent No. 20,119 of 1910. 1

When the rammer lever D is brought back to its withdraw position, thevalve D is moved to its original position in which the. said valve issupplying pressure fluid through the pipe cl to the piston cZ of thevalve D". The preponderance of pressure on the said piston then movesthe said valve toward the left so that it is admitting pressure fluid tothe rammer motor to cause the rammer to perform its withdrawing stroke.The valve D is in this position when the rammer has been withdrawn afterramming the last of the powder charges and when the loading cage A islowered the spring con trolled bolt D is caused to engage wit-h thevalve stem (Z and the valve D is thus locked in the withdraw posit-ion.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is 1. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loadingcage, the rammer and its motor, of means for controlling said motor, adevice cooperating with said means, and means for automaticallyoperating said device as the cage reaches its loading position.

2. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer and its hydraulic motor, of a valve for controlling the saidmotor, a device cooperating with said valve, and means for automaticallyoperating said device as the cage reaches its loading position.

3. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer and its hydraulic motor, of a valve for controlling the saidmotor, and a spring bolt under the control of the loading cage forautomatically permitting said valve to move as the cage reaches itsloading position.

4. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer and its hydraulic motor, a hydraulic valve for controlling thesaid motor, a device for normally retaining said valve in the positionto keep the rammer withdrawn and means on the loading cage for operatingthe said device to release the valve.

5. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer and its hydraulic motor, of a di'lferential hydraulic valve forcontrolling the said motor, a pipe supplying pressure fluid to saidvalve, a device for normally retaining said valve in the position tokeep the rammer withdrawn and means on the loading cage for operatingsaid device to release the valve.

6. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer and its hydraulic motor, of a differential hydraulic valve forcontrolling the said m0- tor, a pipe supplying pressure fluid to saidvalve, a spring controlled bolt normally engaging with the said valveand means on the loading cage for lifting said bolt out of engagementwith the valve.

7. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer and its hydraulic motor, of a difierential hydraulic valve forcontrolling the said motor, a pipe supplying pressure fluid to saidvalve, a spring controlled bolt normally engaging with the said valve, alever connected to said bolt, and a projection on the cage forcooperating wit-h said lever to lift the bolt.

8. In gun loading apparatus, the combination with the loading cage, therammer, its hydraulic motor and its hand control valve, of adifferential hydraulic valve directly controlling the motor, a pipesupplying pressure fluid to said diiferential valve,

- a ram forming part of said valve, a cylinder in which said ram isdisposed, a pipe connecting said cylinder to the hand control valve, aspring controlled bolt normally engaging with said differential valve, alever connected to said bolt, and a projection on the cage forcooperating with said lever to lift the bolt.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. JAMES HORNE.

Witnesses to signature of Arthur Trevor Dawson:

HENRY KING, J NO. R. CAsWnLL.

lVitnesses to signature of James I-Iorne:

V. H. ATKINSON, A. D. LLOYD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

